Universities Allied for Essential Medicines, Corp. (UAEM)

Brooklyn, New York

In 2001, students at Yale convinced their university and the pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb to enable a 95% price reduction in South Africa for a life-saving HIV/AIDS drug discovered by Yale researchers. In the 10 years since that first success, Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) has uniquely harnessed the power of university students to push for innovative approaches to academic research and intellectual property that prioritize global health over profits. As a non-profit organization rooted in a global movement of university students, UAEM aims to (1) promote global access to medicines through innovative methods of academic patenting and licensing, (2) ensure that university medical research meets the needs of people worldwide, and (3) empower students to become leaders in advancing global health access and innovation.